Eragon: The New Riders Chapter 2
by nazamak
Summary: The second chapter of my fanfic. Hopefully improved over the first chapter.


Okay so quick little thing from me the author of this fan fiction. I would simply like to say that in the first few days of putting this out I got two people to follow my story. I would simply like to say thank you to you two. I honestly expected this to slip by unnoticed and not really be cared for. Thank you for proving me wrong. Now enough gushing on with the story.

**Chapter 2: The Long Road**

Aranas sat in the tunnels beneath the Beor Mountains eating some bread and cheese. Her dragon who had yet to be named sat on her shoulder looking quizzically at the food. Aranas laughed softly to herself and said to the dragon. "You won't like that, trust me."

She picked up some scraps of meat that were on the ground next to her and began to feed her dragon. "I wish I knew what gender you are so I could name you." She said as she scratched the creatures chin.

"All right people we're moving on! Get your things and get walking. Make sure your dragon is with you." The Dwarf guard captain looked to one of the other guards and ordered. "Give me a head count and make sure it ends up at seventeen riders and seventeen dragons. And be quick about it for Gûnteras' sake!"

Aranas stood and began to move towards the back of the crowd when she felt something touch against her mind. She recognized her dragons touch-as she had felt it a few times before-and felt a sense of unease coming from its mind. She got a feeling of being less and lost. Then she realized what the dragon meant and right as she spoke up so did one of the guards.

"We're missing someone!" They both called out simultaneously.

The dwarf captain walked over to the guard first. "Are you sure?" When the guard nodded his certainty the captain went over to Aranas. "How did you know of this? Is the missing person a friend of yours?"

Aranas shook her head. "No my dragon noticed. I'm not quite sure-" Her words trailed off as she felt the dragons' consciousness brush against hers again and she saw an image of a young red headed dwarf girl and her orange dragon. "It was a young dwarf girl and an orange dragon."

The captain nodded and turned to his men. "All right I want four volunteers to go out and search for her the rest stay here with the riders and make sure no one else leaves! Go, go, go!"

Aranas stepped forward. "I would like to help."

"Eta. We can't have any more of you going out there and getting lost, and my men cannot keep an eye on you and look for the missing rider at the same time. You stay here."

"But I'm a rider. It's my job to help people. Especially a fellow rider. Besides I can reach out with my mind and look for hers. I don't see any mages amongst your men so you could use me."

The captain was about to protest when the guard who also noticed the missing rider stepped forward. "Captain I can take her. I know these roads well enough that she won't get lost."

The captain stroked his beard thinking for a moment, then threw up a hand in a resigned gesture.

"I don't have time to argue. We need to get these people moving again. Go and be quick. If no one's found her within the hour come back here and we'll think of something else."

The guard nodded and they spread out into the tunnels Aranas sticking close to her guide. When they were in the tunnels she bows her head slightly to him.

"Thank you sir, I really appreciate it. I'm Aranas by the way." She said with a smile.

"Bruundar is my name." He said as he held up his Flameless lantern.

He was a broad shouldered man wearing chainmail armor and small steel helm. He had a pair of small hand axes on his hips and a buckler on his right arm. He was tall for a dwarf as well. Where most came up to around four feet or so this one came up to about five. The tallest dwarf she had ever seen anyway. He had a large leather shoulder strapped bag and another bag on his back.

"Well Bruundar I'm going to try and open my mind to look for her. I won't be able to go more than a few feet at a time though as I'm still new to this."

She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind as far as she could in as large an area as she could muster. She felt nothing more than a few animals and insects.

"She's nowhere around here. Let's move forward and I'll try again." They continued like this for nearly half an hour before she stopped.

"Wait I think I found her!" She said as her mind brushed against the largest consciousness she'd found so far. Once she touched it the mind recoiled and put up a sloppy barrier in an attempt to shield itself. She searched around the mind and found another presence this one a little different from the other but very familiar. It had the same feel of that of a dragon. The dragon didn't seem to surprised at the foreign contact and merely gave off the sense of curiosity and slight unease.

Aranas then opened her eyes and said. "Follow me Bruundar!" She yelled as she ran in the general direction of where she felt them.

Eventually they came across a steep incline that led down past Aranas sight even with the lantern. Bruundar squinted looking down then pointed. "There she is!" He pulled the bag on his back off and unwound a long rope. He lowered it down.

"Now don't panic child I'm dropping a rope down grab on and we'll pull you up!" Bruundar said trying to reassure the girl and keep her calm.

"O-okay." Came the stammered shaking response.

"What's your name friend?" Called out Aranas.

"I-I'm Tada." She said as Bruundar began pulling her up.

"Hello Tada I'm Aranas. Is your dragon all right?" She said with concern in her voice.

"Yes. He just seems concerned with me." She said seeming a bit calmer.

"That's good. Does he have a name yet?" Aranas inquired.

"Yes he is Gáldhiem." She said.

"That's a lovely name Tada." Aranas reached down over the ledge and pulled her up as she was now within arms reach.

"There you go. Feeling better?" Aranas asked with a kind smile on her face.

Tada nodded looking up at Aranas. It was only when Aranas put Tada on the ground that she realized that Tada was only about three feet tall.

"My word I had no idea anyone as young as you was in our group." She said though not unkindly.

"I-I am twenty eight years old." Said Tada confused.

Aranas slapped her forehead and groaned. "You're older than me." She said a quite embarrassed at her blunder.

"It's okay. Most people mistake me for a child due to my small stature. I'm very sorry for wandering off but Gáldhiem wandered off on his own and I went to look for him and didn't notice this cliff."

"It's okay but we'd better get back to the group. We need to make it to Tronjheim before the day is out. Though down here I have no idea how they bloody tell."

Tada nodded and walked with Aranas and Bruundar back towards the group. As they leave Aranas hears soft muttering coming from a passageway off to her left. She looks down it and sees nothing. She then looks over to her companions to see if they had noticed it. They had not. She looked at the floor and began wringing her hands, whilst mumbling something to herself three times over. Tada looks at her with concern.

"Are you okay Aranas?" She asked.

"Yes I'm fine. But I was wondering how did you find out your dragon was male?" She asked with a smile.

Tada brightened up and cheerily explained. "Oh I know a bit of magic and I just used a spell that told me. Would you like me to find out for you? I'm sure there's a normal way but I don't know it."

Aranas smiled and nodded picking the dragon up off her shoulder and holding it out to Tada. Tada held her hand over the dragon and spoke. "Finna du ilumëo."

Then after a brief moment Tada looked up and said. "Your dragon is a girl. Why did you want to know?"

"Well I didn't want to give her a girls name only to find out it's a boy. But now that I know I shall call her Greta, after the woman who raised me."

"A fine name it is lass." Said Bruundar patting her on the shoulder.

"Now come on head back. We need to move." Bruundar ordered though not unkindly.

As Tada ran ahead Bruundar grabbed Aranas arm. "That was a fine job you did talking to her and keeping her calm. You're going to be a natural at this." He then let her go and trotted forward with Tada.

Aranas stood there for a moment; she looked behind her into the darkness. After a few moments of looking she followed the dwarves. She eventually caught up with them and the company kept moving. Aranas felt a bit of concern from Greta. "It's okay. I'm fine." And with that she walked to her two new friends and followed them to Tronjheim.


End file.
